Theale & Tilehurst Friendly XI vs Thatcham Friendly XI

23rd August 2009

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Report by Wiggy.

We arrived at Thatcham to see a lovely ground with what was clearly going to be a very flat pitch. Upon closure inspection at the toss it was obvious that it was going to turn like a Chennai Dustbowl and offer nothing for the seamers. On a very sunny day the only option was to win the toss and have a bat.

It was no surprise then when I was pilloried by my team for telling them that I had lost the toss and we were in the field.

Sharp and Williams were opening the bowling to Sharp and Williams, but it was Sharp and Williams who took the upper hand as Thatcham raced away and bought up the Hundred for no loss in double quick time. At this stage it looked like we were staring down the barrel of chasing a very big total.

Williams was the main aggressor and soon bought up his 50 and it was clear that Sharp was intent on conserving his energy and batting the full 42 overs. Wiggy and Alec took over the bowling and tried to stem the flow of runs. Alec bowled well and as long as he kept his length full the scoring rate slowed. He was soon rewarded for good bowling as he had Williams caught at midwicket with a smart catch. At the other end Wiggy was convinced that he had Sharp LBW more than once but his cries went unanswered as unbelievably the umpire did not see that they were out.

Rob Why came on to bowl a fine spell of 9 overs which made the most of the turn in the pitch and went a long way to keeping Thatcham down to a manageable total. We restricted them to 251 which was probably just above par for the surface and was a total that we would have definitely taken after 10 overs.

A good tea was enjoyed by all except for Ager who complained unnecessarily about the fine spread.

James and Wiggy opened the innings and soon brought up the 50 partnership in the 6^th over. This unfortunately was a little too quick for their captain who brought their wicketkeeper on to bowl some useful slow left arm spin which claimed the wicket of James for 14. James Bozarth then came out to bat and immediately looked very assured at the crease, playing with a calmness which belied his age.

James brought up his first senior 50 in good time by farming the strike in a manner of which many an old pro would have been proud. He regularly asked the umpire how many balls to come in the over and then calmly took a single off the last ball to retain the strike. Wiggy reached his hundred off 77 balls but soon after James fell for 75 with 40 runs still needed. Fortunately the middle order were able to see the game home with 6 overs to spare for a comfortable win.